Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Hidden Gems: Logan's Run #6

Hats off to my good friend Mickey for reminding me about this particular hidden gem. The first five issues of the Logan's Run comic book series is a pretty solid adaptation of the film. With the sixth issue, however, an attempt was made to keep the momentum going. With a Paul Gulacy cover and Tom Sutton pencils inside, Marvel was certainly giving it the old college try. Sadly, the series would only last one more issue. There is a real surprise buried in the back of this book. It's a 5 page back-up featuring Thanos and Drax the Destroyer entitled "The Final Flower". You never know where Marvel is going to decide to drop an inventory tale. This one is drawn by Mike Zeck, and I would imagine it was some of his earliest work for Marvel. The story has been reprinted here and there, but having the original in your hands is a bit more satisfying.

4 comments:

Edo Bosnar
said...

The entire Logan's Run series is something of a hidden gem; I think quite a few of people forgot it almost as soon as it was cancelled, despite the nicely written story by Kraft and the early Perez artwork. I also like the two 'leftover' issues, and think it's truly unfortunate that the series did not hold out long enough for the story to conclude.

So that's what it was! At the time I was surprised that such a blatant rip-off would have been submitted. Of course, if it's a reworked story it's quite a different thing. (It still remains my least-favorite work by Golden, though, even if I basically worship the ground he walked on).

In the last two issues of Logan's run, it is interesting to see how the script moves closer to the eponymous novel. The "old" sandman gun with its different bullets, for example, is a prop from Nolan and Johnson's book. I wouldn't have been surprised if elements from Logan's world, the second novel, had later been incorporated in the comic; it would have been appropriate, as the second novel also deals with a collapsed society (even though the "domed cities" were a movie invention).

It is an amusing coincidence that Scott brings up this series today, as someone on Jim Shooter's blog just today asked how many truly classic movie adaptations there had been in comics. Logan's run was the first one that popped into my mind. Yes, the Perez art helped, but the pacing in particular was excellent; this was a real comic, and not a mere derivative product.

By the way, I just read a 2001 interview with Mike Zeck (in the Comic Book Artist issue on the 70s Charlton comics) in which he confirms that this Drax piece was the tryout story that got him a job at Marvel. I believe that he may have had at least one pin-up previously published in SSoC, but that was a reprint from a fanzine.